The nationally-ranked Oswego State men's ice hockey team controlled action all night as it downed No. 4/4 Plattsburgh 3-1 on Friday at Stafford Ice Arena. With the win over the rival-Cardinals, the No. 6/8 Lakers improve to 6-1-2 on the year and 4-1-1 in SUNYAC action while handing Plattsburgh (8-2-0, 7-1-0) just its second loss of the season.
Oswego notched a goal in each period to help grab the victory. Chris Waterstreet tallied his second of the year at 12:41 of the opening 20 minutes, putting Oswego on top 1-0. Senior Nick Rivait earned an assist on the score and that lead would hold through to the first break.
Early in the second period, Chris Raguseo scored in his second-straight game, pushing the Laker advantage to two goals at 2:18. It was the sophomore's third of the year and came off passes from Mike Wills and Alex Botten. Raguseo's point forced the Cardinals to make a change in net, replacing starter Brady Rouleau with Spencer Finney.
Plattsburgh tried to make the game interesting late in the final period, sneaking the puck past Matt Zawadzki at 12:21 to make it a one-goal margin. It was the only goal the netminder would allow in the 60-minute outing, as the sophomore collected his first win of the year, stopping 30 Cardinal shots.
Senior captain Bobby Gertsakis led by example and gave the Lakers an insurance goal at 15:21 of the third to advance the lead back to two scores. The Cardinals were whistled for boarding and Oswego used its fourth-ranked power-play offense to capitalize on the opportunity. Oswego moved the puck quickly with Botten eventually finding Gertsakis for a score. Kenny Neil was also in on the play, recording an assist.
The Lakers will return to the ice at 7 p.m. on Saturday when they visit Potsdam for another SUNYAC matchup.
